On Constructing Typologies of Young People’s Cosmopolitanism

Abstract

This paper addresses a number of fundamental epistemological obstacles faced by researchers interested in studying young people’s cosmopolitanism, more specifically, the normative temptation and “first experience” obstacles. It goes on to tackle the inherent temporality of cosmopolitan behaviour, seeing how it is a fundamentally dynamic phenomenon that entails itineraries, trajectories and pathways through young people’s life cycles. As such, the text proposes six typical trajectories. In terms of temporalities: “the confirmed cosmopolitan,” “late starters,” “cosmopolitan and uncosmopolitan at the same time,” and “disengagement from cosmopolitanism”; in terms of moving through social space: “focusing on social space close to home,” “the ordinary tourist.”